17 Oct 2015

How predictable. Daniel Sturridge is set for another spell on the sidelines, and this time, the £18m-rated striker lasted only three games before his frail body inevitably succumbed to yet another injury. What caused this latest issue, though?

"It’s a bad week for knee injuries, so we won’t risk it [Playing Sturridge]. It’s just a little contact with [Jordon] Ibe in training and there’s a little bit of swelling.".

If Sturridge is being injured in training, then he really does have problems, especially since training is inevitably lower intensity that actual games.

This latest injury comes as no surprise to me, though. I fully expected Sturridge to get injured again sooner rather than later.

Sturridge is an amazing player, and I'm one of his biggest advocates (and continually reject spurious rumour-mongering about his alleged attitude/arrogance issues), but he is, sadly, unreliable, and this may have a knock-on impact on his future LFC career:

* Liverpool have already signed Benteke (who is also injury prone), but the club (arguably) needs to sign another experienced, robust, and reliable striker.

* This will lead to Sturridge falling down the pecking order, and given his superb goals/assists rate, I'd hate to see that happen. However, the team has to come first, and if Sturridge can't remain consistently fit, then the issue should be addressed.

* It's hard to build a team around a player who is constantly injured, and if Sturridge is not careful, he could go the same way as Agger, who was gradually phased out of the team.

* Granted, the Dane's form is one of the reasons he's no longer at the club, but his atrocious injury record is another major reason.

* The club may also decide to cash-in on Sturridge at some point to take advantage of his decent transfer value, rather than watching his value decline as a result of repeated injuries.

Going forward, Liverpool need a more prudent and pre-emptive approach to transfers, and if/when Sturridge goes the same way as Agger, the club should implement a moratorium on signing any player with a significant injury history.

Right now, that rules out players currently linked with Liverpool, like Mats Hummels, and Neven Subotic, but what's the point of having such players if they spend most of the time on the sidelines?